This Surprising Character Might Appear In Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Sony's own cinematic universe of Marvel characters is slowly growing with "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" heading to theaters in October this year, while Jared Leto's "Morbius" is set to arrive in January 2022. The symbiotic sequel follows Eddie Brock and his alien co-pilot Venom when they go up against Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a serial killer who winds up becoming Carnage. The latest trailer for the film teases their dynamic, with Cletus getting his own symbiote when he bites Eddie in prison. Ouch.

There's been plenty of speculation on whether Tom Hardy's anti-hero will meet Tom Holland's Spider-Man, since the villain was always closely tied with the wallcrawler in the comics. Hardy recently expressed to Esquire UK how much he'd like to see the two characters meet, but he didn't reveal any specific plans. The two characters currently exist in two separate cinematic universes, but the connections between them are intriguing to say the least.

"Venom" shares the same universe as "Morbius," and actor Tyrese Gibson previously mentioned that the Jared Leto movie is actually part of the MCU — although Sony quickly denied those claims afterwards. However, since Michael Keaton shows up in the "Morbius" trailer as Adrian Toomes/Vulture — the main bad guy from "Spider-Man: Homecoming" — there's definitely a little more connectivity between the two studios than you might think. Meanwhile, a UK theater chain has seemingly revealed that yet another surprising "Spider-Man" supporting character will show up in the "Venom" sequel.

UK chain theater Vue might have accidentally revealed an intriguing spoiler in its synopsis for "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" (via GamesRadar). It says that J.K. Simmons is part of the cast — which is interesting since the actor is well known for playing J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy. He later reprised his role as The Daily Bugle editor at the end of "Spider-Man: Far From Home." If he does show up in the "Venom" sequel, it's yet another connection to the MCU. It's not impossible that Simmons is playing an alternate version of the infamous media mogul (or perhaps another character entirely), but it's difficult not to join the multiverse dots and assume that Jameson is back again.

The Daily Bugle itself shows up in "Let There Be Carnage" as Eddie Brock writes for the publication's West Coast edition after the events of the first film. So it would be easy for Simmons to show up in a brief appearance as Brock's boss, stationed in New York. 

Of course, this could all be a simple mistake, as the Vue website also lists "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Tom Hollander in the cast when Sony hasn't yet announced the British actor's involvement. If he does have a role, it's surprising that the studio is keeping his role a secret.

It's also worth remembering that the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" toys suggest Tom Holland's Web-Slinger will travel through the multiverse, so maybe he'll take a quick trip into the Sonyverse...but for now fans will just have to wait and see if J. Jonah Jameson shows up in "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" when the sequel arrives on October 15, 2021.